Razor blade sharpening device



June, 9, 1936. H; DE HAVEN 2,043,957

RAZOR BLADE SHARPENING DEVICE I Filed June 20, 1930 W H Wm WM Qua-fan JwE/IEILOR ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 9, 1936 PATENT OFFICE RAZOR BLADE SHARPENING. DEVICE HughDe Haven, New Canaan, Conn., assignor to De Haven Razor Corporation, acorporation of Delaware Application June 20, 1930, Serial No. 462,519

17 Claims. (Cl; 51-158) This invention relates to a razor bladesharpening device and the general object of the invention is such adevice into which the razor and the blade may be placed and which may beoperated to sharpen the edge of the blade.

Another object of the invention is such a device which may be used as abox in which the razor may be kept when it is not being used for shavingandin which the blade may be sharpened before-the razor is taken out ofthe box.

A further object of the invention is such a device which may be used asa container for the razor and which cooperates with the razor to sharpenthe blade when the said container is shaken.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear fromthe following claims taken in conjunction with the description andaccompanying drawings which, however, must be considered as merelyillustrating and in no way limiting the invention to the embodimentshown and described;

The drawing illustrates in plan and section views selected forms ofconstruction adapted for the sharpening device and embody the broadprinciples of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one form of the blade sharpening device withthe container open so that Q9 the razor may be seen; 7

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device shown inFig. 1, with the container closed;

Fig. 3 is a section through a slightly different form of bladesharpening device, with the container closed;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the body of the container shown in Fig. 3, withthe razor in sharpening position;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the razor shown in Fig. 2, with the headof the razor in section; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the razor shown in Fig. 3, with the headof the razor in section.

Only such parts of the device are shown as are necessary to illustratethe broad principles of the invention, it being understood that variousforms of razor and various forms of containers, sharpening elements andother parts for holding the razor and the blade may be used.

The device which is shown consists primarily of a container adapted toreceive th razor and blade and in which they are mounted forreciprocation relative to the sharpening element. The reciprocation maybe obtained in any suitable manner but in the particular forms of thedevice which are illustrated herein the razor and blade are looselymounted within the container so that by shaking the container or tiltingit from end to end the reciprocation of the blade and razor isaccomplished due to the weight of the razor. Within the container areone or more sharpening elements with which the edge of the blade maycontact so. that as the razor and blade reciprocate relatively thereto,the edge of the blade moves back and forth relatively to and in contactwith the sharpening elements to sharpen the edge of the blade.

In the form of device and razor which are illustrated in Figs. 1 2 and5, the razor consists of a handle I, a head 2 and a blade holder 3Within which the blade 4 is held. The base plate 5 of the razor head ispreferably formed with guardteeth 6 on the front side. The blade holderor cap 3 is mounted on a shaft '1 having a flat side 8 so that the bladeholder 3 either will remain in the position shown in Fig. 2 or will bepressed toward the base plate 5 to hold the blade against the guardteeth 6. This action is obtained by making the blade holder or cap 3 ofspring material and forming the parts as shown in Figs. 2 and 5 so thatthe blade holder is held in the position shown in Fig. 2 by the fiatside 9 of the blade holder bearing against the flat side 8 of the plate,and, the blade holder or cap 3 is pressed toward the base plate 5 whenthe parts are in the position shown in Fig. 5, by the tendency of theupper part [0 of the cap to lie flatly against the flat side 8 of theshaft 1. The blade is held within the blade holder by a clip ll which ispart of the blade holder and which grips the backing I2 of the blade.

The container for the razor has a body l3 and a cover I4 which fittogether, as is shown in Fig. 2. Within the container is a sharpeningelement I4 which is so placed that when the razor and blade are insertedwithin the container the blade is in contact with the sharpeningelement. The sharpening element I4 is also so placed that when the razorand blade move or reciprocate within the container, the edge of theblade moves over the sharpening element to sharpen the blade. Oneposition of the sharpening element is illustrated in Fig. 2, in whichthe sharpening element I4 is on a part l5 of the container in such aposition that it contacts with the edge of the blade when the razor isplaced within the container with the cap in its open position, Thehandle of the razor is supported at the end l6 of the container in asuitable slot or groove so that the razor and blade may reciprocatelengthwise of the container (that is from the left to the right, or fromthe right to the left of Fig. 2) which causes the edge of the blade toreciprocate in contact with the sharpening element I4. It will thus beseen that in the form of device shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the razor is notheld within the container in fixed position and may easily bereciprocatecl by shaking the container. The distance between the sidesl8 of the container is preferably somewhat greater than the width of therazor and the slot I1 is somewhat greater than the diameter of thehandle so that the razor may have a side reciprocating motion inaddition to the longitudinal reciprocating motion. The lower end H] ofthe handle should be smooth in order to permit the razor to move readilywithin the container and. an end plate 20 is provided within thecontainer to serve as a stop to prevent the end of the handle fromwearin through the end of the container. The length of the longitudinalreciprocating stroke is determined by the end H) of the handlecontacting with the plate 20 when the razor moves to the right of Fig. 2and by the plate 5 or side arms of the razor head contacting with a stopplate 2| when the razor moves to the left of Fig. 2.

The sharpening element I4 is preferably provided with a raised portion22 having a form substantially similar to that shown in Fig. 1, fromwhich it will be seen that when the razor and the blade are within thecontainer there is a three-point support to enable the blade to contactevenly with the sharpening element, that is the handle of the razor issupported within the groove I1 and the blade is supported on the twowings of the crescent or angular shaped raised portion of the sharpeningelement. This enables the blade to bear evenly against the raisedportion 22 of the sharpening element, with the result that all portionsof the blade will be evenly sharpened as the blade reciprocates incontact with the sharpening elements; for instance, even if the blade isslightly warped the edge of the blade will contact evenly with theraised portion 22 of the sharpening element, the edges 23 of thesharpening element being somewhat rounded to enable the edge of theblade to evenly contact therewith. The length of stroke which the razormay have when reciprocated should be so regulated by the proper placingof the plate 2| with regard to the plate 2|] that all portions of theedge of the blade contact with the raised portion 22 of the sharpeningelement so that the edge of the blade is sharpened throughout its fulllength.

The weight of the razor will hold the blade in contact with thesharpening element but in order to give a greater pressure of the bladeedge against the sharpening element, a spring 24 may be fastened withinthe. container to force the razor toward the sharpening element. Thespring 24 is preferably a leaf-spring fastened to the cover of thecontainer by the fasteners 25 so that the free end of the spring pressesthe razor toward the sharpening plate with a yielding pressure whichvaries as the razor reciprocates, that is as the razor moves toward theleft of Fig. 2 the pressure of the spring forcing the blade against thesharpening element decreases. A ball or other suitable frictiondecreasing element 26 is preferably interposed between the cap 3 of therazor and the spring 24. The ball 26 may conveniently be held in placeon the cap 3 by means of suitable keepers 21 which may be struck up fromthe cap.

The tail or thumb-piece 28 of the cap 3, by which the cap may be movedinto either of the positions shown in Fig. 2 or Fig. 5, is preferably soformed that when the cap is in the position shown in Fig. 2, the end ofthe finger piece rests against the upper part of the razor handle, agroove or slot 29 being formed in the base plate 5 of the head of therazor in order to enable the finger piece to contact with the handle.This holds the parts as a fairly rigid structure when the razor iswithin the container with the parts in sharpening position.

To sharpen the razor shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 it is only necessary toreciprocate the razor by shaking the box. This reciprocates the edge ofthe blade in contact with the sharpening element l4. To sharpen theother side of the blade the container is opened, the razor is removedand the blade is then taken out of the blade holder 3 and turned over sothat said other side of the blade is in position to contact with thesharpening element l4. The razor is then returned to the box, the coveris put on and the box is again shaken to sharpen said other side of theblade.

The razor blade sharpening device shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6 is designedso that a plurality of sharpening elements 30 and 3| may be used. Thesharpening element 30 is mounted in one part of the device, for instancein the body l3 of the container, and the other sharpening element 3| ismounted in another part of the device which may conveniently be thecover H! of the container. The edge of the blade is held in contact withthe sharpening element 30 by the weight of the razor when the body ofthe container is lowermost but it will readily be seen that if thecontainer is turned over so that the cover I4 is lowermost, the edge ofthe blade will contact with the sharpening element 3|. This provides aconvenient way of sharpening both sides of the edge of the blade withoutremoving either the blade or the razor from the container and withoutremoving the blade from the razor. The sharpening elements 30 and 3| arepreferably spaced and the edge of the blade may be brought into contactwith either one of them, as is desired. If the sharpening elements 39and 3| have the same sharpening characteristics, that is, if they are ofthe same material and equally smooth, etc., each side of the blade maybe sharpened to the same extent by holding the container so that firstone side of the blade and then the other side contacts with thesharpening elements and reciprocating the blade relatively to thesharpening elements; but the different sharpening elements 30 and 3| mayhave different sharpening characteristics, that is the sharpeningelement 30 may be rather rough to grind the blade edge rather thanpolish it, whereas the sharpening element 3| may have a differentcharacteristic and may be rather smooth to polish the edge of the bladerather than grind it, but both sharpening elements are preferably ofmaterial of such a hardness that the edge of the blade may reciprocatein contact with them without nicking either the blade edge or thesharpening elements. From the previous description it will be seen thatwhen the sharpening elements 39 and 3| have the same characteristics itis necessary only to hold the container as shown in Fig. 3 and thenshake it in such a way as to cause the edge of the blade to reciprocatein contact with the sharpening element 30, and to sharpen the other sideof the blade it is necessary only to turn the container over to bringthe other side of the blade edge into contact with the sharpeningelement 3| and then to shake the container in such a way as to cause theblade to reciprocate in contact with the sharpening element 3 I. If thesharpening element is rather rough so that it has more of a grindingaction than a polishing action on the blade edge, the container may beshaken to cause the reciprocation of the edge of the blade in contactwith the element 30 to grind the blade edge. The container is thenopened and the razor is turned over so that the other side of the bladeedge is in contact with the grinding surface 30, whereupon the containermay be shaken to grind the other side of the blade edge. Withoutremoving the razor from the container, the container may be turned overso that the side of the blade which was first ground rests against thesharpening element 3! which has more of a polishing characteristic thana grinding characteristic. The container may then be shaken (with thecover l4 lowermost) tocause the reciprocation of the blade edge relativeto and in contact with the polishing element 30. The container may thenbe opened and the razor again turned over to bring the other side of theblade edge in contact with the polishing element 3| and the containermay again be shaken to polish the second side of the blade. It will thusbe seen that the blade edge may be ground and polished on both sides ina relatively simple manner without removing the blade from the razor.

In the form of sharpening device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the razor andblade also have a three-point suspension, that is the handle of therazor is supported at 32 or 33, depending upon which side of thecontainer is lowermost, and the edge of the blade is supported on thecrescent or angular shaped raised portion 22 of one or the other of thesharpening elements 30 and 3|. This is in order to enable the edge ofthe blade to adjust itself for even contact with the sharpeningelements. The length of stroke of reciprocation may be determined by anysuitable stops. For this purpose the handle of the razor may be providedwith a slot 34, and a pin may project from the container in a positionto enter the slot when the razor is in sharpening position. Theengagement of the pin and either end of the slot determines the lengthof the sharpening stroke. The length of stroke of reciprocation shouldbe such that the edge of the blade contacts with all of the raisedportion 22 of the sharpening elements so that the blade is sharpenedthroughout its entire length, but the stroke should not be 1 long enoughto enable the edge of the blade to hit the end of the container, whichwould dull the blade edge.

The razor which may be used in this form of sharpening device is also ofsimplified construction. The blade holder may have the two bladegripping arms 38 and 31 so spaced that the blade may be slipped betweenthem and from the sides of the blade holder the pins 38 extend formounting the blade and blade holder in the head of the razor. The rearof the blade holder extends at 39 to be held either in the positionshown in Fig. 3 or the position shown in Fig. 6 by detents 40 and M, orany similar device which will accomplish the same result. If desired,the blade and blade holder may be a unitary structure and sold as aunit, as are some of the familiar razor blades now on the market.

The pins 38 may be on the sides 42 of the razor head, which may be ofspring material so that the sides 42 may be spread apart to permit thepins erably has a socket at its free end to fit exactly the rear 39 ofthe blade holder so as to hold the blade as shown in Fig. 3, but thesocket onthe free end of the detent 40 is preferably so curved that'whenthe blade is in the position shown in Fig. 6, the rear portion 39 of theblade holder has not fully seated in the socket. This causes the detent40 to continually press the blade against the guard teeth 6 to preventany looseness of the blade when the razor is being used for shaving.

By the word across appearing in the claims, applicant intends to definethe relative movement of the blade and sharpening element whereby thereis a component of motion along a line from the blade edge toward thebody of the blade as distinguished from the movement solely lengthwiseof or parallel to the blade edge.

Although a particular and preferred form of the invention has beendescribed, it is recognized that many various modifications may be madeand it is therefore desired that the invention be construed as broadlyas the claims, taken in conjunction with the prior art, may allow.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a holder for a razor blade, acontainer capable of receiving the blade and the holder and in whichthey are mounted for reciprocation when the container is shaken, asharpening element within the container the sharpening portions of thesurface of which are in a plane and which surface is arranged to contactat non-continuous points with the blade edge and upon which the blademay reciprocate with the side of the blade in contact with thesharpening element, there being relative sharpening movement of theblade and element across the blade edge, and means to prevent the bladeedge from striking the container.

2.'A' razor blade sharpening device including a container, a sharpeningelement mounted therein, said container being capable of receiving arazor and in which the razor is mountable for relative reciprocationbetween the razor and the sharpening element, said sharpening elementbeing placed for contact with the blade edge, and means to press theblade against the sharpening element as the relative reciprocationoccurs with the blade and sharpening element in contact.

3. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a razor,and a sharpening element for contact with each face of the blade, saidrazor being mountable in a container for relative reciprocation betweenthe razor and said element, whereby the blade edge may be sharpened onboth sides without removing the blade from the razor by-reciprocatingthe blade and sharpening element relatively and in contact.

4. A razor blade sharpening device including a container, two spacedsharpening elements mounted therein, said container being capable ofreceiving a blade holder and in which the blade holder is mountable forrelative reciprocation between the blade holder and the sharpeningelements, said sharpening elements being placed for contact with thesides of the blade edge and at least one of the elements having ridgesto move across the blade edge upon said reciprocation whereby both sidesof the 'blade edge may be sharpened without removing the blade from theholder by reciprocating the blade and sharpening elements relatively andin contact.

5. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholder, and a plurality of sharpening elements mounted in said containerand adapted to contact with the sides of a blade edge, said blade holderand sharpening elements being mounted for relative reciprocation acrossthe edge of the blade, the surface of at least one of the elementshaving non-continuous points for contact with the blade edge wherebyboth sides of the blade edge may be sharpened without removing the bladefrom the holder by reciprocating the blade relatively to and in contactwith the sharpening elements and means to limit the stroke ofreciprocation.

6. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a sharpening element mounted in the container forcontact with one side of the blade edge and having a narrow contactingportion extending at an angle to the blade edge, and another sharpeningelement mounted in the container and spaced from the first sharpeningelement for contact with the other side of the blade edge, said bladeholding element and sharpening elements being mounted for relativereciprocation and the blade and elements being relatively movable toallow the blade to contact with both sharpening elements, whereby bothsides of the blade edge may be sharpened without removing the blade fromthe holder by reciprocating the blade and sharpening elements relativelyand in contact.

7. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a sharpening element mounted in one part of thecontainer and having a broken line contact with one side of the bladeedge, and a sharpening element mounted in another part of the containerfor contact with the other side of the blade edge, said blade holdingelement and sharpening elements being mounted for relativereciprocation, whereby both sides of the blade edge may be sharpenedwithout removing the blade from the blade holding element byreciprocating the blade and sharpening 1 elements relatively and incontact.

8. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a bladeholding element, a sharpening element mounted inone part of the container for contact with one side of the blade edgeand a sharpening element mounted in another part of the container forcontact with the other side of the blade edge, said elements operatingby their weight to bring the blade edge and sharpening elements incontact, and said blade holding element and sharpening elements beingrelatively reciprocable whereby both sides of the blade edge may besharpened without removing the blade from the blade holding element byreciprocating the blade and sharpening elements relatively and incontact.

9. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholder, a sharpening element mounted in one part of the container forcontact with one side of the blade edge and a sharpening element mountedin another part of the container for contact with the other side of theblade edge and spaced from the other sharpening element, the bladeholder being movable by its own weight between the two sharpeningelements, said blade holder and sharpening elements being relativelyreciprocable whereby one side of the blade edge may be sharpened byreciprocating the blade relatively to and in contact with one of thesharpening elements by holding the container in one position and theother side of the blade edge may be sharpened by reciprocating the bladerelatively to and in contact with the other sharpening element byholding the container in another position.

10. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a bladeholding element, said container having a bodyand a cover adapted to fit together, a sharpening element mounted in thebody for contact with one side of the blade edge and a sharpeningelement mounted in the cover for contact with the other side of theblade edge, at least one of said elements being loosely mounted andmovable by gravity within the container to bring a side of the bladeedge in contact with a sharpening element, and said blade holdingelement and sharp ening element being relatively reciprocable wherebyboth sides of the blade edge may be sharpened without removing the bladefrom the blade holding element by reciprocating the blade and sharpeningelements relatively and in contact.

11. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a bladeholding element, said container having a bodyand a cover adapted to fit together, a sharpening element mounted in thebody for contact with one side of the blade edge and a sharpeningelement mounted in the cover for contact with the other side of theblade edge, said elements operating by gravity to bring the blade edgeand sharpening elements in contact, and said blade holding element andsharpening elements being relatively reciprocable whereby both sides ofthe blade edge may be sharpened without removing the blade from theblade holding element by reciprocating the blade and sharpening elementsrelatively and in contact.

12. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, a bladeholding element, said container having a bodyand a cover adapted to fit together, sharpening elements mounted in thecontainer body and the cover for contact with the blade edge, saidelements operating by gravity to bring the blade edge and sharpeningelements in contact and said blade holding element and sharpeningelements being relatively reciprocable whereby the sides of the bladeedge may be sharpened by holding the container with the body or covermoving the blade holding element from the container and for relativereciprocation between the blade and sharpening elements, whereby theblade edge may be sharpened by permitting the elements to move bygravity to efiect contact between the blade edge and a sharpeningelement 6 and reciprocating the blade relatively to the sharpeningelement.

14. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, sharpening elements mounted in different parts of thecontainer for contact with the sides of a blade edge, said elementsbeing mounted to provide relative reciprocation between the blade andsharpening elements and movement across the blade edge when thecontainer is shaken, whereby the blade edge may be sharpened by shakingthe container to effect relative reciprocation between the blade andsharpening elements and effecting contact between the blade edge and asharpening element.

15. A razor blade sharpening device including a container for a bladeholding element, sharpening elements mounted in different parts of thecontainer for contact with the sides of a blade edge without removingthe blade from the container, gravity actuated means for holding theblade edge in contact with a sharpening element, the mounting of theelements being such as to permit relative reciprocating movement betweenthe blade and sharpening element and movement across the blade edge.

16. A razor blade sharpening device including a container capable ofreceiving a razor, sharpening elements mounted in difierent parts of thecontainer for contact with the blade edge without removing the razorfrom the container and for relative reciprocation between the blade andsharpening elements and movement across the blade edge, the mountingsbeing such that the blade edge can be brought into contact with anysharpening element.

17. A razor blade sharpening device including a container, a sharpeningelement mounted therein, said container being capable of receiving arazor and in which the razor is mountable for movement, a razor supportwithin the container for supporting the razor with the blade in contactwith the sharpening element and for relative movement between the bladeand sharpening element whereby the blade may be sharpened by placing therazor on the supports within the container and moving the razor toeffect sharpening action between the blade edge and sharpening element.

HUGH DE HAVEN.

